Alternate Names

Sagittarius A*

Type

Supermassive

Location

In the constellation Sagittarius

Finder Chart

Distance

27,000 light-years (8 kiloparsecs)

Mass

4.1 million times the mass of the Sun

Size

Diameter roughly 15 million miles (24 million km).

Discovery Methods

• Measuring the motions of stars

This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image shows a cosmic jet shooting away from M87’s nucleus, along with other streamers of hot gas. The black hole sits at the center of the bright spot of light. [NASA/CXC/W. Forman et. al.]

This document was last modified: October 24, 2005.